Path of the Living Weapon

By Max Rible

The Path of the Living Weapon is an art where the martial artist learns to manifest their own chi externally, first as an enhancement of blows, then as a tangible weapon, and finally to project it at a distance. The default special effect of damage is chi, but it could be almost any Blast effect, depending on your teacher. Once you have learned Shining Harvest, new blast special effects cost a new fu schtick each.

This path is heavily inspired by the anime Yuu Yuu Hakusho; the Path of the Brilliant Flame is a degenerate case of this one.

Shining Finger

Chi Cost: 1

Shot Cost: 3

Strike an opponent with a bare hand or foot using Martial Arts; add 2 to the final Damage if the strike hits. If your special effect is likely to start something else— such as fire igniting flammable clothing or acid continuing to remain in contact with the skin— the opponent will need to spend 3 shots dealing with it (rolling on the ground, etc.) or suffer 1 Wound Point every 3 shots until something is done about it. Total damage from this cannot exceed your Chi rating.

Prerequisite: none

Path: Shining Nimbus, Spirit Weapon

You are surrounded by a blazing nimbus of energy until the end of the sequence. Any opponent striking you with bare flesh suffers 1 Wound Point per strike, which is not reduced by Toughness, unless they are immune to the nature of your power. (Fire elementals can wallop someone blazing with fire freely.)

Prerequisite: Shining Finger

Path: Shining Fist

Shining Fist

Chi Cost: 3

Shot Cost: 3

Strike an opponent with bare fist or foot wreathed in a blazing nimbus of energy. The damage rating of the attack is 10. Even opponents immune to Martial Arts attacks and/or fu powers take full Damage from the attack, unless they are also immune to the appropriate Blast shtick for your special effect.

Prerequisite: Shining Nimbus

Path: Shining Orb

Shining Orb

Chi Cost: 3 + X

Shot Cost: 3

You gather the energy for a Shining Fist and hurl it against an opponent at a distance. X = number of meters between you and your opponent.

Prerequisite: Shining Fist

Path: Shining Harvest, Shining Armory

Shining Harvest

Chi Cost: 3

Shot Cost: X

You can stand in the middle of a blaze of energy of any special effect you have mastered without suffering damage for the entire sequence. (A master of fire could meditate peacefully for hours within a raging inferno.) For each shot spent enveloped in power, you gain a temporary Chi point. (X is the total number of shots you spend doing this.) You may choose to spend these at any time to pay the chi cost for any fu power(s); once spent, the points are gone. They do not change your Chi rating for checks; they only give you points to spend on fu powers. If spent on powers in this path, the cost is halved. The maximum amount of Chi you can store is double your Kung Fu attribute.

You can also spend 2 Chi as a 1-shot defensive action when hit by an appropriate attack; this gathers 1 Chi for you, and negates any lingering effects (such as clothing being set on fire) and reduces damage by 3.

Prerequisite: Shining Orb

You pour your chi into the shape of a familiar weapon, and it manifests in a blaze of light. The cost is X chi, where X is the damage bonus of the weapon. The weapon does 2 extra points of damage to opponents not immune to its special effect. You may not take a Signature Weapon schtick with such a weapon. It continues to exist until it leaves your grasp.

Prerequisite: Shining Finger

Path: Shifting Weapon

Shifting Weapon

Chi Cost: 2

Shot Cost: 1

Your control over your weapon improves to the state that you can change its shape quickly on the fly— turning it into a pole for vaulting over an obstacle, or a crowbar for prying open a stuck door.

Prerequisite: Shining Weapon

Path: Mystic Weapon

Mystic Weapon

Chi Cost: 2

Shot Cost: 1

You may use your Shining Weapon to deflect or redirect incoming magical Blasts, including Shining Orbs, just as an ordinary martial artist would practice the art of arrow-cutting.

If you are simply deflecting a blast, add +5 to your defensive AV against the Blast, (like the Fox’s Retreat); the blast will be deflected someplace else. (It’s unlikely to hit a bystander or ally unless they present a really large target— like a crowd— or they’re under an appropriate curse.)

If you want to bounce the blast off your Weapon and send it at someone else, roll your Martial Arts against the Action Result of the check (Sorcery, Martial Arts) made to attack you. On an Outcome of 0 or more, you may redirect the blast using your Action Result – 3 for targeting.

Either use counts as a defensive action, like an Active Dodge; declare it when you’re targeted for attack, but before the check is made.

Prerequisite: Shifting Weapon

Path: Shining Armory

Shining Armory

Chi Cost: X

Shot Cost: X

Conjure X shining throwing weapons— daggers, darts, shuriken, needles, coins, playing cards— and hurl them at X unnamed characters, making one Martial Arts check and comparing to each AV to determine the effect; this requires X shots. (If you have Symphony of Slaughter, reduce the shot cost by 1 or 2 for the first two schticks, and reduce the Outcome required to take out the mooks to 4 or 3 for the next two.)

Prerequisite: Mystic Weapon, Shining Orb